ADDRESS TO HIS MAJESTY KING CHARLES III
Condolences on Death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Congratulations on Accession to the Throne of His Majesty King Charles III
Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): I move, That a respectful Address be presented to His Majesty King Charles III to offer our condolences in the loss of our late beloved Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II, and to congratulate His Majesty on his accession to the Throne.
To the King's Most Excellent Majesty
Most Gracious Sovereign—we, the members of the House of Representatives of New Zealand, wish to offer Your Majesty our heartfelt sympathy on the loss of your beloved mother, our Sovereign Queen of New Zealand Elizabeth II, who was loved for her grace, calmness, dedication, and public service.
Her affection for New Zealand and its people was clear, and it was an affection that was shared. You have our deepest sympathies for her loss but also our gratitude for her extraordinary life of service.
We respectfully offer Your Majesty our congratulations upon your accession to the Throne, and express a wish that your reign may be marked by peace, prosperity, unity, and joy.
It was with enormous sadness that New Zealanders woke to the news last Friday that our longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, had died. For the vast majority of New Zealanders, we have known no other King or Queen. To paraphrase the Prince of Wales, we knew this day would come, but it will be some time before the reality of life without the Queen will truly feel real.
Much has already been said about Her Majesty's unwavering sense of duty, and rightly so. The vow she took in 1947 as she entered adulthood declared that her whole life, long or short, shall be devoted to our service, and so it proved to be so. Through a long life of public duty, she lived that vow every day. Despite the early age at which she took the Throne, following the untimely death of her father and the abdication of her uncle, she none the less steadied the ship and quickly became the exemplar of consistency and public service: loyal, humble, devoted.
Her reign corresponded with the period of most rapid change in human history. From the fall of empire, war, major societal shifts and upheavals, through to the advent of television and social media, she became a touchstone, a constant, an anchor in the sea of change. Through seven decades, there has been but one face on our banknotes and coins, she beamed out of our televisions every Christmas Day, and, of course, she has featured in our parliamentary prayer here in this House every sitting day since 1952. While much has been made of the 15 UK Prime Ministers who had a weekly audience with Her Majesty, I'm the 16th New Zealand Prime Minister of her historic reign.
I had the honour to meet and to speak with Her Majesty on a number of occasions. She was warm and easy to talk with, and I was struck by her interest in and impressive knowledge and recall of New Zealand, helped, I'm sure, by the 10 visits she made to our country. The first visit, in the summer of 1953 and 1954, was extensive, and it formed the basis for the enduring relationship Her Majesty built with the people of Aotearoa.
In a long life of service, she was called on to fulfil a number of roles, all in addition to being a wife and mother, I might add. As a stateswoman, she was the epitome of graceful diplomacy, building goodwill across the globe. As the head of the Commonwealth, she spoke often of the strength to be found in diversity, certain that we all had much to learn from one another. As head of the armed forces, she led our remembrance for those lost in the service of their nation. As a veteran of the Second World War herself, the welfare of veterans and their families was always a key concern of hers.
The Queen was also a woman of deep faith. She took her role as head of the Anglican Church very seriously and sought to bridge people of various faiths, believing in the inherent good that resides in all peoples, regardless of their creed.
She mourned with us the Tangiwai disaster, which occurred on her first visit here. She stood alongside us in some of our darkest days, including the March 15 mosque attacks and the Christchurch earthquake.
Her Majesty's consistency did not come at the cost of New Zealand evolving as a nation. She stood in support of our aims and ambitions as an independent country within the Commonwealth. What mattered to her was that all New Zealanders reach their potential in a spirit of kindness, respect, and support for one another. I know that our new Sovereign, King Charles III, feels the same.
I know members will join with me in expressing our sincere condolences to King Charles and his family, who are now mourning the loss of a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. I acknowledge them in their sorrow and thank them for allowing Her Majesty to give so much of herself to New Zealand.
A little-known fact, perhaps, is that during COVID lockdowns, the Queen became a regular communicator with countries in her Realm. She called me on two occasions to check in on New Zealand and to reflect on the challenges the whole world faced. In those calls, I was reminded of her stoicism, which was, I suspect, born out of her experience of World War II. I was reflecting on those calls recently, and it occurred to me how much they summed up her as a person. She asked after others in the same way she did every time I met her, including in a call to pass on condolences for the loss of her husband.
She always thought of others. She was concerned for the people of Christchurch, and the aspiration of Māori. She was concerned for people's welfare through COVID and, I remember, would ask me about all aspects of life in the early months of 2020. She asked, for instance, about Anzac Day commemorations. I remember describing to her how we marked it during lockdown, and wondering what she would make of it: "We all stood at the end of our driveways, Your Majesty, in the dark. Some played the radio, and you could hear 'The Last Post' while we stood there silently, next to our neighbours." She paused for a long time. "Well, that sounds rather moving.", she said. She was, quite simply, an extraordinary woman who was of her time, and now, in passing, is for all time.
I leave the House with the Queen's own words. On contemplating the question of life, she said, "We are all visitors to this time, this place. We're just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love … and then we return home."
Haere ki te hoa rangatira, haere ki te ringa o te Atua.
[Go to your husband, go into the hand of God.]
CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Leader of the Opposition): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of His Majesty's loyal Opposition—and, yes, that pronoun still feels unfamiliar—to join with the Prime Minister in mourning the passing of the Queen and recognising her extraordinary lifetime of service to others. In the days since her death, the heartfelt outpouring of emotion from around New Zealand and the whole world has been remarkable and sincere, both from people who knew her well and those who never met her.
I, like many Kiwis, did not know her personally, but one of my very first memories is of standing on Memorial Avenue with my mother and my brother, enthusiastically waving our little plastic flags as the Queen drove past on her way to open the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch. But regardless of how well or how little we knew the Queen, we all feel her loss in some, often surprising, way because she has been such a constant presence in all of our lives—from appearing on our money and on our stamps and on our magazine covers and on our TV screens. But the loss is also felt because, with her passing, we also have a renewed appreciation and greater gratitude for her unprecedented legacy of selfless public service.
Upon reflection, we can all see it was a life incredibly well lived. The Queen lived her life with a real mission and purpose. She showed great determination, tremendous care and compassion for her people, and an awe-inspiring sense of duty to do her job to the very best of her ability each and every day. Queen Elizabeth was an inspiration and an example for all of us to look up to. From around the world and here in this Chamber, Queen Elizabeth is mourned because she, and she alone, for 70 years was the embodiment of unwavering devotion to duty and commitment to public service, as she uniquely combined the role of Sovereign with that of wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
When she pledged, aged 21, that whether her life would be long or short, it would be devoted to serving the public, she did not know that just four years later, she would be Queen. On that day of her coronation, news broke out that our Edmund Hillary had become the first person to conquer Mount Everest, alongside Tenzing Norgay. Those two events—her coronation and the conquering of Everest—I think gave New Zealanders a special link to the start of the Queen's great reign and the arc of history that it would eventually encompass.
So much changed in those 70 years of her reign: post-war austerity and recovery, the space race, the start of the Cold War and the end of the Soviet Union, Britain joining the European community and departing it through Brexit, the continued rise of the United States, the emergence of China, and the technological revolution which means that, even as royal proclamations are posted on the gates of Buckingham Palace, they are shared by the royal family on social media. The long sea voyages of the Queen's early reign were replaced by the convenience of air travel, and society became more permissive, more inclusive, and more conscious of the need to reflect and embrace diversity. She had seen it all; the good times and the bad times. She uniquely understood the arc and the pattern of history. She was, indeed, a part of what has been referred to as "the greatest generation" —a generation that made big personal sacrifices but, by and large, made no demands from the generations that followed and prospered economically, politically, and culturally because of their sacrifices.
So much changed, yet, more than anything else, the Queen embodied steadfastness. In an age of ephemera, celebrity, and instant gratification, the Queen was a pillar of stability and tradition. That does not mean that she and the monarchy did not change during her reign—they did, but her values did not. She remained true to her pledge of service, loyal to the Commonwealth, the defender of her faith, and devoted to her husband and family. These were constants throughout her long life; an anchor for the people of New Zealand and the Commonwealth, and all qualities I personally admired in her.
All of us in this House are committed to public service. While the monarchy sits above party politics, the Queen's life is an example to us all. She demonstrated that in public life, living your values every day, and keeping going matters. Her life reminds us that service is noble and powerful and influential.
Another huge change during her lifetime was the role of women in public and professional life. The Queen was, in fact, the unparalleled example of female leadership in the last century. She already had two children when she became a young queen, and combined her global public role with motherhood. She had the strength to impose her own values, her own will, and her own personality on her reign, and she became the confidant of Presidents and Prime Ministers, trusted for her discretion and judgment and unerring in providing comfort and support when they were needed.
As she aged, the Queen increasingly relied on her family and, in particular, Charles. His life has already been one of long service to his mother and to the Commonwealth, as Prince of Wales. He committed to the causes of conservation and the environment long before it was popular, and, via the Prince's Trust, has supported young people. Even if he is now obliged to step back from these causes and issues, we know that they will always matter dearly to him as monarch.
A strength of this monarchy is its continuity. In a period of increasing volatility and uncertainty around the world, King Charles' wisdom, experience, and commitment will be an important anchor for New Zealand and the Commonwealth. We wish him well as he begins his reign as King Charles III.
Finally, on behalf of the New Zealand National Party, I want to record our enormous gratitude for the long life and devotion of Queen Elizabeth II. Moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā.
Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader—Green): Haere atu rā, Queen Elizabeth II. I stand on behalf of the Green Party of Aotearoa to send our condolences to the Queen's family for their mourning, and to the many mourning her here and around the world. I recognise that, to many, she represented dignity and grace in her commitment to service with an almost stubborn ethic to work right up until the day before she died. I certainly can reflect on her sheer stamina for service and public life—that, after seven years as an MP, I can't imagine having to times by 10.
I know how important it is to hold with care the matriarch she was, including as a mother, a wife, a sibling, a grandmother, a "super-nan"—as we say in my whānau, when you start to get several generations of mokopuna in your living presence. As a nana myself to two little ones, these bonds and connections and the importance of them, particularly when living a very public life, deserve their understanding and recognition from us all.
I also acknowledge the sentiments held by many in Te Ao Māori who have expressed aroha for Queen Elizabeth. The Kīngitanga in particular have held a particularly special relationship through Te Atairangikaahu to this day, perhaps signalled when Queen Elizabeth herself signed their Treaty settlement and read the apology to our Kuini, Te Atairangikaahu. In the Tai Tokerau, my own elders expressed grace at this time as they have recalled her visits to Waitangi itself.
There is a tikanga and kawa among Māori which I too uphold. This calls on the responsibility to affirm the sense of loss shared particularly by her loved ones. It says that Charles is not simply just a king; he is also a grieving son. William is not just the next-in-line prince; he is also a grieving mokopuna. I send aroha for the loss of this pou in the lives of her extended family.
I also hold space for the fuller reflection of the institution of the monarchy that Queen Elizabeth upheld—reflections that are being highlighted right now, especially as people have had days to gather their perspectives on the impacts of a colonial and imperial agenda on their lives. Over the weekend, we saw many Māori leaders who, while holding a rightful space of aroha, have also been very clear that we cannot ignore the oppression of Māori as very real and continuing. This is the beauty of having grown up on my marae. We are accustomed to the importance of being able to bring to bear the fullness of a person's life, especially at their death. As a wahine Māori leader in politics, I will not deny those sentiments either.
Queen Elizabeth herself was smart and aware. I dare say she would not be surprised in the least about any peoples raising the role of the monarchy in oppressing the power of others, including here and countries around the world. She was never ignorant of the responses around the world to the monarch imperial agenda that her long post represented. We can see this when we look at the times and instances when she has referred to the colonial impacts—for example, her well-known utterance about the Treaty of Waitangi being "imperfectly observed", in her words. She knew what she was a part of.
Ko tēnei Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori—right now is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. The irony is not lost on me that, due to Parliament not sitting for the rest of the week, we are all denied a historic special debate. Politicians across the House were due to speak to our collective responsibility of protecting te reo Māori and to commemorate 50 years since the Māori language petition was presented on the steps of Parliament. This was a once-in-a-50-year opportunity for us to herald something that was at risk of being completely wiped out by a colonial plan that was linked to the reign of Queen Elizabeth's father, King George. I am today still doing the work to reclaim my own native tongue as a result of violence towards my grandmother when she was but a child. Now, I know that this legacy would have surely horrified the Queen.
The reclamation of mana motuhake in Aotearoa for te Iwi Māori continues regardless of what happens on the other side of the world. The work to decolonise and re-indigenise this land continues. The vision of Matike Mai—constitutional transformation and Tiriti justice—is for us on this whenua to do. Yes, with all that I have acknowledged, with love, for the death of a Queen, the question of what her service was in aid of is certainly a legitimate one and, yes, a question for this very time. The debate is happening right now because we haven't yet done the work to restore justice. Te Ao Māori and tauiwi allies will continue to do this work no matter whether we stay in this House this week or not. We will continue to support this reo Māori week no matter. The Queen is dead; our work lives on.
Her Majesty lived a life of service, as we have said, and we in this House also serve the people. It is appropriate for us to mark her passing and give space for people to mourn, but we work for New Zealanders, and the extended period that Parliament will adjourn for means important legislation will be delayed, including the Maniapoto Claims Settlement Bill, the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, and the Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill. Select committees will not have the opportunity to be briefed by Ministers and hold them to account or to hear from members of the public. Our view in the Green Party is that a shorter adjournment period would have been appropriate to recognise the significance of the Queen's passing and the accession of the King while also upholding our commitment to continue governing Aotearoa.
I end my contribution to swing back to the reflections of my own whānau, who sit all along the continuum of diverse responses. Some of us are in authentic mourning and openly expressing love. Some of us are staying respectfully silent. Others of us still are reacting to having the harms of colonisation denied and erased. With all that, I stand by a human acknowledgment of a kuia who I will pay some basic respect that should be accorded to all of our elders. I circle back to genuine regards to her precious ones. Rest well, Queen Elizabeth—you've certainly earned it.
DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you, Mr Speaker. On behalf of the ACT Party members of this House, I'd like to join with other leaders offering His Majesty my sincere condolences for the loss of his beloved mother, Queen Elizabeth II. She was, indeed, widely loved for her grace, calmness, dedication, and public service. Reigning as Queen for an extraordinary 70 years, New Zealand and the entire Commonwealth have been so fortunate that Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor filled the role of Sovereign to all our countries. It is also clear that she had a special place in her heart for New Zealand.
From her home in the United Kingdom, we are the farthest country to visit in the entire Commonwealth, yet she came here in 1953, almost as soon as she was coronated. She travelled to great extents. I remember, growing up in Whangārei, my grandma would point out to the balcony of the Grand Hotel on Bank Street, where she had come to stand all those years ago. That Whangārei town was a town of less than 20,000 people at that time, but she made the effort. It might be easy for someone in a position such as hers not to make such an effort to travel to the farthest extents of the Commonwealth, but, in fact, she came here 10 times during her reign. She always took her role as Queen of New Zealand seriously, diligently, and dutifully.
She worked all the way up to within a day of her death. I did wonder if perhaps she was just holding on until her country was safe from Boris Johnson, but I suspect it was more about her unending devotion to duty. It was her values that made her important. Her role required her to be reserved. She did not speak often—most of her activities were ceremonial—and yet she achieved powerful leadership through the example she set through her own behaviour and the well-measured words that she did use. My favourite quote from Queen Elizabeth II is one that I think is extremely valuable in the current cultural climate, where people sometimes hesitate to express their feelings and in other times express more than is helpful. She said, "As we look for new answers in the modern age, I for one prefer the tried and tested recipes, like speaking well of each other and respecting different points of view; coming together to seek out the common ground; and never losing sight of the bigger picture." Those words are good advice in politics and in life.
As we look around a troubled word today, with conflict on a scale that we wished and we thought we'd left behind many decades ago, the Queen's words are again helpful. During that first visit to New Zealand, she championed peace and equality, saying, "the Commonwealth bears no resemblance to the Empires of the past. It is an entirely new conception, [based] on the highest qualities of the spirit of [humanity]: friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace." She went on to say, "May brotherhood [and sisterhood] be furthered by all our thoughts and deeds from year to year. In pursuit of the supreme ideal the Commonwealth is moving steadily towards greater harmony between its many creeds, colours, and races". These words in many ways were ahead of their time, and, again, are very useful words of advice in today's climate. They're just a few examples of how she used the few words that she did use to show true values that all people could live better by. They allowed her to reign through the most extraordinary changes throughout her time. She came to the Throne in a world of pencils and paper, black and white TV, and rotary telephones that were fixed to the wall. Her reign ended in a world with space exploration, mobile phones, and even TikTok. She was one of the first modern working mums, part of a vanguard of women who ushered in a new age of equality, and for all their novelty, these changes were consistent with her timeless humanitarian values: that all people should be free and equal.
Ironically, as the pace of life accelerates, timeless values of the kind she exhibited become more important, and I think that's what she showed through her life. Now, it turns to a new King of New Zealand, and the Commonwealth, to follow, uphold, and grow his mother's good examples. In this House, we have great confidence in our new King, Charles III. For one thing, I can't think of many people who've spent longer preparing and auditioning for a role, beginning the biggest job of his career at the ripe age of 75.
I was lucky enough to meet our new King as Prince Charles several years ago. He was sincere and charming. He'd made an effort to have something specific to say to each and every person that was there, in another country, on the other side of the world from his home. I believe that sincere devotion shows he is his mother's son, and he will bring the same devotion to sincere service in his role as King, as she did in her role as Queen. It will be essential for him to resist the very tempting temptation to make political points from the Throne. It's one that we should watch, but one that I'm sure he will resist for the good of the monarchy and our democracy.
Again, on behalf of ACT's members in this House, it's with great sadness that we mourn the loss of a wonderful Queen and a wonderful life well lived, and we set forth with great hope as we welcome King Charles III. Long live the King. Thank you, Mr Speaker.
RAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): E kāhu au ki te uira e kanapa rā i runga i Kōkōtāiki e. E, ko te tini o te mate ka riro atu rā ki te huinga kahurangi e. E hoki atu rā atu rā aku nui, aku wehi, aku whakatiketike e, ki te pōuriuri, ki te pō tangotango ki a Hine-nui-i te-Pō. Pō kia whakataukī au i konei, he tokotoru nā Hine Tama ka hōrū te moana e.
Tuatahi, e te Māngai o te Pāremata ora, ko te wehi ki a Ihoa ora o ngā mano ki te pāremata o te Rangi mō ana manaakitanga ki runga i a tātou i tēnei rā. Ka tiki au i ngā tikanga o ā tātou mātua tīpuna—tangihia ō tātou mate, he tikanga tūturu, he tikanga tuku iho. E, tika tonu ko Irihāpeti tēnei, ko Tā Wira tēnā, ko Tā Toby tēnā, ko Moana tēnā, ko Muriwai tērā, ko Anituatua tērā, ko te tumuaki o te Hāhi Rātana tērā, ko te tumuaki o te Kīngitanga tērā, ko wai atu, ko wai atu, ko wai atu?
Rātou o te ope tārewa ki a rātou. Kotahi noa te kōrero, whoatu, haere. Haere tōtika i runga i te ara kōrero kua parangia e te tini, e te mano, moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā.
[I turn my attention to the lightning that flashes on Kōkōtāiki ridge. There are many dead who have been taken to the gathering place of the illustrious. Return, my great ones, my reverent ones of high rank, to the world of darkness, to the world of the dead, to the Goddess of Death. The underworld let me here declare, the three by Hine Tama made the ocean sob.
Firstly to the Speaker of the living Parliament, the fear of Jehovah of the thousands of the celestial parliament for its protection upon us this day. I draw on the customs of our ancestors—lament our dead, an ancient tradition and one passed down through the generations. Elizabeth, of course, is this one, Sir Wira another, Sir Toby another, as well as Moana, Muriwai, and Anituatua, along with the head of the Rātana Church and the head of the King movement, and who else, who else?
Let the spirit troupe be with the spirit troupe. There is but one thing to say: go forth, depart. Travel directly upon the storied pathway forged by the myriads. May you rest in peace.]
I rise on behalf of Te Paati Māori today, and I want to share a kōrero. In my iwi of Te Tai Rāwhiti, there is a saying: "Waiho te tangi a Takoto, tangi ki a Tamatea Toia. Waiho kia tangi a Tamatea Toia, tangi ki a Takoto."
[Leave the lament of Takoto; grieve Tamatea Toia. Wait until Tamatea Toia cries, then grieve for Takoto.]
Two sisters, whose fate, already written in the skies, were already tau ki te papa [couldn't be helped]. They couldn't be helped, as is the passing of Queen Elizabeth. That fate has already been sealed in the skies. What has also been sealed in the skies is the continuous utu for the honouring of a partnership.
I share another story at home about Mihi Kōtukutuku, one of our kuia. When she died, a contingent of Te Arawa came to Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and as they went on to the marae, before the whaikōrero was even started, cursed this kuia. I roto i Te Ao Māori he tikanga anō tēnei. [In the Māori World this has another meaning.] All the profanities i roto i Te Ao Māori [in the Māori World] on this kuia were laid on our marae. Her mokopuna wanted to go out on that marae and fight the Te Arawa people. It was her son Eruera that said, "Their turning up today and the curses on our marae honour their grandmother."
So I see a lot written on social media about the righteous anger of indigenous peoples all over the world, and I take those stories as stories that I carry with me in my tikanga. Therefore, the cusses and the whakaiti haven't come from us, because there is tikanga in our people that is tangihia ō tātou mate [to lament our dead].
Our tikanga is clear that we must give time for whānau to grieve their losses, and even enemies can show respect. E kore rawa ahau e tuku mā wō roimata hei kai mō taku patu. Engari taihoa ake nei, ko taku patu me taku utu he hoa haere. [I would never allow your tears to be fodder for my weapon. But, in time, my weapon and my revenge will come together.] There is a time and a place to raise to your patu; there is a time and place to lower it.
As she said in her own words, the relationship that has been between the Crown and Māori has been "imperfectly observed", and I want us to acknowledge that today. Te Tiriti o Waitangi gave consent to kāwanatanga, and has been honoured by tangata whenua for over 180 years. It confirmed the pre-existing rights of tangata whenua: to be undisturbed of our full and exclusive rights to our whenua, to our moana, to our ngahere, to our awa, to our taonga. It also promised of being treated as equals—mana ōrite. This is the "imperfectly observed" part of her speech that she was talking about.
As I stand in this House as a representative of te Iwi Māori, we must always speak our authentic truth. The British Empire and the power of its monarchy was built of stolen whenua, stolen resources, and stolen taonga. Koina hoki hei kōrerotanga mā tātou. [That is what I have for us to discuss.] It's the same way we would have spoken on a marae, whakatakotoria ngā kōrero ki runga i te ātea hei wānanga hei kōrerorero mā tātou [by laying down the issues on the forecourt they can be deliberated and discussed by all].
Nō reira, in closing, it is now up to Te Atua. She now kneels at the mercy of the ultimate King, and there is a saying—well, there is a process—i roto i ngā hāhi katoa—in all religions—that we will kneel in front of the ultimate King and confess wā tātou hara [our sins].
Ko tōna mahi ināianei he muru hara. Ko tōna mahi ināianei he tāpae rīpenetā. Ko tōna mahi ināianei he kaupare atu i ngā mana, i ngā tapu, i ngā ihi, i ngā wehi i waihotia e ia ki runga i tēnei whenua, wērā atu āhuatanga tuku iho, tuku iho, tuku iho.
Nō reira, ka nui aku kōrero mō tēnei wā. Ka tiki au i ngā kōrero a ngā mātua tīpuna, āpiti hono, tātai hono, rātou te hunga wairua ki rātou, āpiti hono, tātai hono, ko tātou te hunga ora ki a tātou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora tātou katoa.
[His work now is to forgive sins. His work now is to recite repentance. His work now is to divert the authorities, the prestigious, the powers and the awe left by him on this land, and those other things passed down through the generations.
Therefore, that is enough from me at this time. I call on the words of our ancestors: the lines of descent are unbroken, let the dead rest with the dead, the lines are unbroken, let the living be with the living. Greetings, greetings, greetings one and all.]
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Foreign Affairs): Nā Kīngi Tāwhiao tēnei tongi kura, tērā atu o ōku hoa kei ngā tōpito o te ao, heke iho ki tōna mokopuna te Arikinui Te Ātairangi Kāhu, te raukura māhaki o te ao katoa, nōna Te Ao Māori i toha atu ki te ao, nōna te ao i haria mai ki te Iwi Māori, nōna te ringa i tono atu ki a Kuīni Irihāpeti.
E ōku huia kaimanawa, koutou i para te huarahi tika mō mātou te whai.
Ōku tuhi mareikura, rere atu ki tua o tawhiti, ki tua o tāwauwau, ki tua o Paerau.
E rongo au i te tai marangai, te tai o mahara ki ōku tūpuna, ki ōku mātua, ki ōku kati taramea, pērā ki a Kuīni Irihāpeti.
Ko ngā tāngata hautū, he haumi te whakatere o ngā waka, he toka tū moana, ākina ā-tai, ākina a-hau, ākina ā-ngaru tūātea, takoto, e moe, okioki.
[This prophetic saying comes from King Tāwhiao, another of my companions from around the world, passing down to his descendant Queen Te Ātairangi Kāhu, the mildest-esteemed one of the whole world, she who shared the Māori World with the world, she who brought the world to the Māori people, she who also reached out her hand to Queen Elizabeth.
To my treasured ones, you who have cleared the correct path for us to follow.
To my esteemed friends, fly far away, to beyond distant places, to beyond the meeting place of the dead.
I hear the storm tide, the tide of memories of my ancestors, of my forefathers, my calabashes of sweetest scent, those such as Queen Elizabeth.
The work of leaders is the uniting of the directions of peoples, to be steadfast in the face of changing tides, the buffeting of the wind and the crashing of breaking waves, lie and sleep. Rest in peace.]
We gather to mourn the loss of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch of Britain, the Commonwealth, and Aotearoa New Zealand. The Queen represented the embodiment of the Crown as partner reflected in Te Tiriti o Waitangi—the Treaty of Waitangi.
On Sunday, we acknowledged the seamless transition of the Crown to King Charles III in the proclamation ceremony, an event many may not witness ever again. For Aotearoa, the rauru, or thread, that binds Queen to King, mother to son, also extends back to 1840. It binds Māori to the Crown in perpetuity, and, despite the fraught history, the intent of the Treaty marked the journey of our shared sense of nationhood. We are on that journey. The te reo text of Te Tiriti o Waitangi mattered to rangatira then, as it does now. The words also came to increasingly matter to Queen Elizabeth and her heirs.
When Kīngi Tāwhiao travelled to London in 1884 to deliver a petition to Queen Victoria seeking to uphold the Treaty, he could not gain an audience. Tāwhiao was followed by his grandson King Te Rata, who petitioned King George V on the Treaty and the confiscated lands that had occurred in Waikato and Taranaki. He received an audience, but was told his solution would be with the New Zealand Government.
Fast-forward to Waitangi Day 1990, when Queen Elizabeth spoke at the Treaty grounds, where she said—and many of the members in the House have already quoted this—"I am the descendent of one party to the Treaty of Waitangi, and many who are here today are descendants of the original Māori signatories, your tūpuna." She said, and went on to state, "Today, we are strong enough and honest enough to learn the lesson of the last 150 years and to admit that the Treaty has been imperfectly observed. I look upon it as a legacy of a promise."
Queen Elizabeth made repeated commitments honouring the Treaty. Her leadership has been particularly highly valued by the Kīngitanga from the moment she and the Duke of Edinburgh walked on to Tūrangawaewae Marae in 1953, where she was welcomed by King Korokī and Princess Piki, later Dame Te Atairangikaahu. Queen Elizabeth personally presided at a ceremony to create Dame Te Ata as the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the very first Māori woman to be so honoured.
The original Wai 30 claim was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal by my father, and, in November 1995, in a powerful act of symbolism of restoration of mana to both Treaty partners, the two queens came together again to complete our largest Treaty settlement. Queen Elizabeth II gave Royal assent to the Waikato Raupatu settlement legislation, the only time that this has happened in our history. Her personal signature sealed the formal acknowledgment and apology for the wrongful confiscation of 1.2 million acres of Waikato land. This is a memory etched in my generation. The signing ceremony completed the journey of King Tāwhiao all those decades before, and now we look to the future and King Charles III.
Just three months ago, I had the privilege of representing this country at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda. Prince Charles showed in his speech his commitment to modernise the Commonwealth. He noted that to unlock the power of our common future, we must also acknowledge the wrongs which have shaped our past. He spoke of colonialism, he spoke of slavery, and he understood the challenge in front of him. It was a message of righting wrongs through ongoing reconciliation. Aotearoa knows too well the hurtful damage that historical wrongs can cause. It is the way we overcome them that has defined us, and it can lead the way for the future.
During the 70 years of the Queen's reign, we have come a very long way. We can go further to build the sense of nationhood that our ancestors hoped for and that she was committed to. In a week which reflects the determination to protect our indigenous language to leave the world in a better place than we found it, we renew our partnership with the Crown under King Charles III. As he embarks on his journey, may he have the enduring strength and wisdom of his mother.
E tae koe e te Kuīni ki ngā riri o ngā rangi, ki te tauranga o tō tātou Mātua i te rangi, i reira tō hoa rangatira e tatari ana ki a koe. Nā te mate kōrua kua wehe, nā te mate anō kōrua ka hono. Haere, haere, whakangaro atu rā.
Tū mai Kīngi Tiare III. Tihei mauri ora.
[Oh Queen, you have reached the meeting ground in the heavens, where our Father in heaven resides, and where your husband waits for you. You had been separated by death, and death again has united you. Go, go, go to the unseen realm.
Long live King Charles III. Behold the force of life.]
NICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National): Let me reflect for just a moment on why Her Majesty's death has spoken so loudly to so many of us. I venture that it is not because we knew her well, nor that she had great bearing on our daily lives, nor that her death has changed things for us in any merely practical sense. Instead, her passing calls us to reflect on those things which surpass the practical and in which our sense of collective identity can be found—our nationhood, our shared values, our humanity. For Queen Elizabeth II, though made of flesh and blood, was the living embodiment of those rare qualities: stability, humility, service. Her leadership provided our country, the Commonwealth, and indeed our world, a rare touchstone of continuity amidst a kaleidoscope of change.
On becoming Queen, she submitted herself to a higher duty. She lived to serve: to serve the institution of the monarchy and, through that, to serve each of us. There is meaning in that. While she did so willingly, her role was not one she chose. Yet, she did it with such devotion, such grace, such sheer reliability that she sometimes led us to forget that she was a living being capable of our faults. She soared above the political battles of this House, keeping her opinions to herself, subduing her personal views, her emotions, in service of something bigger.
She did that day after day after day, attending hundreds of official events each year—outfits prescribed, remarks refined, each move choreographed, each moment documented—and she did so knowing that what, for her, was one of so many occasions was, for those meeting her, a moment of joy, a moment to be remembered for ever. I know it was for me, inside a giant inflatable rugby ball—quite naturally!—when I met her, alongside Richie McCaw. I commented on her beautiful silver fern brooch, and she reflected that it had been a gift to her from our country, and then, in what almost felt a conspiratorial moment, commented on just how large the All Blacks had become.
It seemed to me in that moment that she was in fact a human being, and of course she was, but it was, I venture, these glimpses of the Queen's humanity that truly made her magic: her love for her corgis, for horses, for driving her Land Rover around at pace, and for cereal in Tupperware containers. When we saw her humanness, it reminded us of the size of her task and all that she put aside for her duty. I think, too, it was in her motherhood that she had great impact and that bound us to her, for she was not just a queen; she was the matriarch of a royal family, with children whose tribulations, whose triumphs, were lived in the public eye, that brought her reflections that we shared with her, and which showed that she too was capable of forgiveness.
The death of our Sovereign matters because, in this moment, we are reminded that we are more than a collection of atomised individuals who happen to occupy the same geographic boundaries. We do not stand alone and apart; we are part of something altogether bigger. We are reminded that we exist not just today and in this moment but live amidst the greater continuum of time. We live with the memories of those who came before us, and we live with responsibility for the lives of those who come after us. We think of those loved ones now departed who also knew our Queen, and those children yet to come who will know her only as a figure of history.
We are, despite our many differences, a people who share much in common, a people who draw upon a shared slice of history, a set of traditions and institutions of shared stories. Yes, not each of us draws equally from that well, and yet for these past 70 years, Queen Elizabeth has been a thread through time that has connected past and present, present and future. It is in mourning her passing that we give her the tribute of our knowledge that that which she lived for continues still.
Ka mate he tētē, he tupu he tētē—when a chief dies, another comes forth. Long live the King.
Hon PEENI HENARE (Minister of Defence): E te Māngai o te Whare, ka noho tonu ahau ki roto i te reo Māori.
Kua papā te kakau o te hoe ki te hīpapa o te waka tīwaiwai kia hoe atu rā koe, ki te wāhi i whakataukītia ai e ō tātou mātua, e ō tātou tūpuna. Kua takahia atu rā koe i te ara whānui i heke ai a Māui ki te pō, ki te anu mātao ki te rua o tapoko rau, ka whakapiki atu rā ki te whakamaunga kekete, kekete mai ai te kekete, e ara mai ai te ara. Nō reira, haere e te kawa tū nuku, haere e te kawa tū rangi, haere e te kawa tū papa i tū ai a Tāne.
Ka kī atu ahau, ka mokemoke nei te Iwi Māori e pupuru nei i te tapu o te Tiriti o Waitangi, kia tiro atu ka pēhea nei ki tua o pae tawhiti. Engari, i tēnei wā ka kī atu ka mokemoke nei tō Ope Kātua, a Ngāti Tūmatauenga, a Te Tauaarangi, a Te Taua Moana.
Ka kī atu rā ahau ki a koe, haere, haere, whakangaro atu rā. Āpiti hono, tātai hono, ko rātou ki a rātou, āpiti hono, tātai hono ki a tātou te hunga ora.
Ka kī atu ahau ki te Kīngi hou, ki te Kīngi Tiare III, ka mataara tonu nei tō Ope Kātua, ka mataara tonu nei a Ngāti Tūmatauenga, ka mataara tonu nei a Te Tauaarangi, ka mataara tonu nei a Te Taua Moana. Ka mataara tonu nei tō iwi Māori e tiro atu ana ki te Tiriti o Waitangi, he kawenata tapu, he kawenata kua tūāpapangia te āhuatanga o Aotearoa i ēnei rā.
Koinā tāku e kī atu ana ko ngā tapuwae o ōna mātua, o ōna tūpuna kei runga tonu i te marae o Waitangi. Kāore e kore ko te inoi a Ngāpuhi otirā te motu whānui kia hoki mai te Kīngi hou ki runga i tōna marae, ki runga o Waitangi, ā taihoa ake nei.
Me mutu au waku kōrero ki te Whare i te rā nei ki roto i ngā kupu i tupu nei tēnei pononga a tana hāhi. E mea atu ana karaipiture a Matiu "Haere mai ki a au te hunga e māuiui ana, e taimaha ana, māku koutou e whakaokioki, māku koutou e whakataha."
Koinā tāku e poroporoaki ake atu nei ki te Kuīni, haere, haere, whakahokia mai ngā rārangi kōrero ki tō tātou Kīngi hou, tēnā koe, tēnā koutou, kia ora tātou.
[Mr Speaker, I will remain in the Māori language.
The handles of the paddles will boom on the dugout canoe so you can paddle to the place that has been proverbialised by our parents and ancestors. You have travelled the wide path by which Māui descended to the place of departed spirits, to the cold, to the numerous boggy holes, and then ascended the fixed rope, and the way rose up. Therefore, farewell to you who have walked the earth, to you who have walked the great heavens, and who have stood on the earth where Tāne stood.
I declare that the Māori people are bereft, as they retain the sacred nature of the Treaty of Waitangi, to see what will be over the long term. However, at this time I declare your New Zealand Defence Force is bereft; the army, the air force and the navy.
I say to you, go, depart, to the place of the unseen. The lines of descent are unbroken, let the dead be with the dead, the lines of descent are unbroken to us, the living.
I say to the new King, to King Charles III, the Defence Force is still on guard: the army is still on guard, the air force is still on guard, and the navy is still on guard. Your Māori people are still on guard, surveying the Treaty of Waitangi, a sacred covenant, a covenant that laid the foundation for the Aotearoa we know today.
I will say that the footsteps of his forefathers and his ancestors are imprinted on Waitangi marae. No doubt Ngāpuhi, as well as the whole country, appeal for the new King to return to his marae at Waitangi very soon.
I should finish my speech to the House today with words this disciple of his faith grew up with. According to the Gospel of Matthew, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
That is my farewell to the Queen, farewell, pass the speaking ranks to the new King, I acknowledge you, I acknowledge you all, be well one and all.]
BROOKE VAN VELDEN (Deputy Leader—ACT): I rise on behalf of the ACT Party to express our congratulations upon King Charles III's accession to the Throne, and our sympathy on the loss of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
As Queen of New Zealand, Her Majesty was loved across our country. For many of us, she felt like a family member; a real matriarch caring for all the people she met, and a fellow lover of dogs. Part of that feeling of connection is because there cannot be a family more photographed than our royal family, and every action so scrutinised. We have all come to know Queen Elizabeth through every magazine cover at every supermarket counter over our lives.
The other part of that feeling is born from interactions with Her Majesty, those human connections. Queen Elizabeth travelled far, many, many times, to be in New Zealand over her reign, and spoke personally to Kiwis over decades on tours, and touched our hearts. Thousands of Kiwis saw her travel through their towns and she has been there with us through good times and through tragedies.
Over the seven decades of Elizabeth's reign, our country changed considerably, but Her Majesty stayed constant, unwavering in her service to people and to charity. We recognised in her character, strength, and humility. She was a hard-working, strong woman—a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother, working until the age of 96 and a few days before her passing.
New Zealand has had five monarchs before Queen Elizabeth II. On 11 February 1952, New Zealand's Governor-General stood on the steps of the Parliament building and proclaimed the "high and mighty Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary" to be "Queen Elizabeth the Second". She succeeded her father, King George VI. In the same manner, this Sunday past, the Governor-General, Dame Cindy Kiro, stood on the steps of the Parliament building and proclaimed our Sovereign as King Charles III, our seventh Sovereign. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth gave her life to serve others, in the same manner that King Charles III has also said that he endeavours to serve.
In 1953's Christmas broadcast, Queen Elizabeth said, "the Commonwealth is moving steadily towards greater harmony between its many creeds, colours and races despite the imperfections by which, like every human institution, it is beset." In his first speech as King, King Charles III said, "whatever may be your background or beliefs, I shall endeavour to serve you with loyalty, respect and love". We are all individuals and we are lucky to live under Sovereigns that recognise the inherent dignity of every person and that uphold rights no matter their background or belief.
I wish to speak to comments made by some of my colleagues about the relationship between the Crown and Māori. The Treaty was signed between Queen Victoria and Māori chiefs. It is difficult to have a Treaty-centric approach without the Treaty.
Queen Elizabeth II was loved across New Zealand and the world. She will be missed. On behalf of all of my parliamentary colleagues—David Seymour, Nicole McKee, Chris Baillie, Simon Court, Dr James McDowall, Karen Chhour, Mark Cameron, Toni Severin, and Damien Smith—God save the King.
Hon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Minister for Pacific Peoples): At times such as this, our traditional leaders, our matais, our te arikis, our matapule, our ratus will look to the environment to help us reflect on the legacy of Queen Elizabeth. I want to pay tribute to her by acknowledging her and her life and her reign as that of a mountain. Auā e āfua mai mauga faamanuiaga o se nuu—from the mountains flow the blessings unto the people. She has been steady, steadfast, strong, and dedicated.
She was a much-loved, respected, and admired monarch not only here in Aotearoa New Zealand and across the Commonwealth but also in the Pacific nations of the region. Those of us who are Pasifika and of the Pacific have their history with the British monarch etched into the archives of our memories through songs, oratory, poetry, and stories. For the history of the Pacific is a history intertwined with the British monarchy, going back to what the Pacific scholars call the second disruption in the vast Pacific Ocean, the arrival of the Papālagi or cloud-bursters—the European explorers and adventurers—and then traders, missionaries, and settlers in the fight for control of our lands, people, and islands.
However, whatever one thinks of the colonial past, the fact remains that the Pacific have only known one British Crown for the last 70 years. She has been the Queen, our Te Arikinui Kuīni Irihāpeti II [aristocratic leader, Queen Elizabeth II], O le Tupu Tama'itai'i, Elisapeta II. Whether one has met her personally—or any of the heirs—it matters not for many of our traditional leaders. What matters is her 70 years of being a symbol for all people, a symbol for stability of service and duty for others, a beacon of light to encourage aspirations for a better future, a vision that was captured by our very own poet Selina Tusitala Marsh when she read her poem "Unity" at London's Westminster Abbey:
There's a 'U' and an 'I' in unity
costs the earth and yet it's free
There are many stories of her visits to the Pacific Islands, including the tour of the Pacific in 1977, which saw her visit, with Prince Philip, many more islands throughout the Pacific. What is clear is that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II connected with the people of the Pacific and was interested in the welfare of the Pacific peoples, as well as the welfare of the Māori people of Aotearoa New Zealand. In a speech during a visit I saw a clip of at the Waitangi grounds in the 1960s, she encouraged the Māori people of Aotearoa New Zealand to hold fast to their language and culture. I've always believed that once those words were uttered by the Crown herself, all other structures were legally and morally obligated to support and follow suit.
The news and grief of her passing has been felt around the Pacific, with members of the Pacific political leaders expressing their countries' deep sense of sadness, with the Papua New Guinea Prime Minister saying that she was the anchor of our Commonwealth and the matriarch of their country; with Niue's Premier saying her faithfulness to her duties and dedication to the people was a reflection of a most remarkable leader.
Whether one supports the monarchy or not, what the traditional Pacific leaders will say—these are the chiefs of the Pacific—is that what we will appreciate is her dedication and steadfast conduct to maintaining the foundations: her duty to God, country, and nation, including the Commonwealth, while welcoming change in a way that enables all our nations to have confidence about the future—steady as she goes.
As the Minister for Pacific Peoples and on behalf of our people of Aotearoa New Zealand, Pacific peoples and in the region, we collectively express our deep and heartfelt grief at the passing of Queen Elizabeth, and we also convey our heartfelt condolences to King Charles III and royal family during this time of mourning. Manuia lau malaga, lau afioga i le Tupu Tama'ita'i, Elisapeta II, soifua.
SPEAKER: I understand this is a split call. I call Harete Hipango—three minutes.
HARETE HIPANGO (National): Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā, ka tangi hoki ahau. Tihei mauri mate.
[The mutton bird is calling, the parrot is calling; I also wish to speak. Behold the force of death.]
Today, we as a House of Parliament extend our condolence to the House of Windsor. I reflect on a remarkable woman—daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, and great—Queen Elizabeth II, who represents and is the passing of a generation and era. I reflect on the relationships through my whakapapa, mere pounamu, he taonga, to hand, connecting me to generations of my forebears. I stand cloaked with the memory and presence of them, generations through the ages—past, present, and to come.
My Wanganui tūpuna—ancestors—like other Māori chiefs, in their own Sovereign, standing on behalf of their peoples, their hapū, inked a relationship with the Crown, pen to parchment, on a Treaty—my people—on 23 May 1840, Pūtiki Marae, my tūrangawaewae, who forged a relationship with the Crown, a mutual commitment to bring our people together in standing and understanding of nationhood as sovereign peoples with the Sovereign of England. He iwi kotahi tātou.
My great-great-grandfather Hoani Wiremu Hipango, forging an enduring commitment of that relationship to survive and thrive, in 1855, met with Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. His son Hori Kingi he sent to study at Oxford University to keep a glow of the embers of that relationship with the Crown ignited between his people of Wanganui, with the Crown. My tupuna koro caressed and buried in the soils of Letcombe Regis, Oxfordshire, England at 19 years old, since 1871.
I share this with the House as we mourn the passing of generations and an era, and we look forward to embrace a future as a nation—those conversations, the kōrero to be had. These relationships are poignant and significant as we traverse the period of time through into the future.
I think of my friendship with Prince Edward during his tutorship at Whanganui Collegiate School in 1982, and I am sad for him and his family as they grieve the loss of their mother.
Queen Elizabeth—a woman whose life transcended time and generations of selfless service, duty, dedication, diligence, durability, and dignity—regal to the end. An era passed; a monarch of a generation now taken flight. Te kōtuku rerenga tahi, now departed but always remembered.
Rest in peace, Your Majesty. King Charles III—tihei mauri ora e.
